Warm Bodies
by Dhampir72
Summary: Allen Walker meets Lavi Bookman at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. For Laven Week. Updated, chapter 3. Now with more zombies for a complete and balanced breakfast.
1. Network

**Title**: Warm Bodies **  
Summary:** Allen Walker meets Lavi Bookman at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. For Laven Week.**  
Genre**: Romance/Action Adventure/Horror**  
Rating**: R (for gore and sexy times, but not at simultaneously, don't worry)**  
Author's Note**: Thought I would come back for this Laven week, because I miss this fandom. And I like zombies. Title a shout out to Issac Marion's wonderful debut novel _Warm Bodies. _It's fantastically wonderful and I highly recommend every single one of you read it immediately.

**pqpq**

August 6, 2012

Prompt #1: "Network"

**pqpq**

The sign said **Atlanta (25 mi)**.

Allen Walker stopped in front of it and dropped his bag onto the blistering asphalt. Interstate 20 stretched out before and behind him in a straight black line, disappearing between waves of shimmering heat. Above him, the white hot August sun beat down on him with relentless persistence. It dredged up even more sweat from his brow and hairline. Allen felt it trickle down his neck, beneath the torn collar of his shirt. He had been walking forever, it seemed, but it could not have been that long. Perhaps two weeks, maybe more. He had lost count of the days. They all blended together after a while: the endless stretch of highway beneath a sweltering sun by day and the ruins of old cars or itchy haystacks in old sheds at night. Ever since the Event occurred, Allen had been running and hiding.

Always running and hiding.

The dead had taken over, so he had no choice. It had been a normal Wednesday afternoon when it happened. Enjoying his summer, Allen had been lounging on the couch at home, watching television. He had the place to himself while his father was away on business in Atlanta. So he had been enjoying a sandwich and catching up with Burn Notice when the emergency broadcast came on with a loud wail. Violence in the streets, both in the cities and the suburbs. No one could explain why average white-collar workers had gone on murder sprees and why typical suburban housewives were eating their children and neighbors. _Run and hide, _the newscasters said. _And if you can't run, hide._

He veered off the road and went to squat in the narrow slant of shade cast by the highway sign.

**Atlanta (25 mi)**

The dry grass crunched underneath him and beneath his bag when he set it down for the second time. Allen rummaged through it. His supplies from Madison were running low. All that remained were a few cans of beans and some dried jerky. The water, however, was his major concern. Just outside of Madison, he had broken into an office building and filled up as many bottles of water as he could from the staff lounge. He had refilled them at a hardware store break room just outside of Covington. But the heat had persisted and the over 100 degree days had forced him to drink more than usual. Only two bottles left before he was stranded out on the endless network of highways and interstates with no water or food.

_I don't want to die like this_.

Allen leaned back against the support beam of the Atlanta sign and tried not to think about the burning thirst in his throat or the sunburn blistering his skin. He wanted to focus on something else, but there was nothing except the dry, brown grass and the black road. And no relief came to him, even in the shade, with the absence of a much-needed breeze.

_No, I can't give up_.

He shook his head slowly, took a small drink from his water bottle, and then returned his supplies to his bag. With some effort, Allen stood up again. Instinctively, he checked to insure that his weapon still rested at his hip. Although some might consider it a kitchen utensil, it had saved Allen's life more than once, and he was not keen on getting rid of it just yet. The knife sharpener measured about a foot and a half and even though the pointed end had a rounded tip, with enough force, it could easily hurt someone.

Or _something_.

Guns were great, but Allen didn't know how to use one. With his luck, he would end up killing himself on accident. Knives were desirable, but Allen could not find a large enough blade to suit his purposes. Plus he would have to continuously sharpen it, less it dull up and fail him in a bad situation. So Allen had grabbed the one thing in the drawer at home that he thought could protect him and ran for it after the satellites went down and the power grid failed. The news reports on the storm radio said the CDC had it under control; that it was safe in Atlanta and there were refugee centers there with food and water…He couldn't turn back now.

Not when Mana was...

Allen shook his head again and straightened up a bit taller. There was no time for thinking about things like that. Not now. Not when he had 25 more miles to go. So, with his weapon within reach and his pack securely on his shoulders, Allen headed back towards the road. He was about to take a step onto the interstate when he heard it: the low, humming growl of an approaching engine.

_Impossible! _Allen thought. He had not heard a running vehicle since the Event occurred. What did it mean? The military? The police? Or worse yet, bandits? Things like that happened in all the movies... Allen felt himself shaking a bit. What if they were thieves who came to steal his last bit of food and water? The thought of being robbed and left for dead on the highway made Allen duck down and retreat to where he had been sitting in the shadow of the road sign. He pulled the hood of his vest up over his hair to cover the platinum tresses, hoping to camouflage himself in plain sight. The last thing he needed was to jump over the fence and into the dying cornfield, where there might be more of those…_things_.

So Allen curled up as small as possible and clenched his hands into fists. He willed his heart to stop pounding so loudly, but it would not quiet, just as he could not stop praying that the car would drive right past without seeing him. The engine became louder and louder, and Allen crunched into himself even further. _Don't see me. You don't see me. I'm not here. I'm not here…_But it was too late.

Allen heard the brakes and then the sound of the car idling. He didn't want to look up, but curiosity killed him. He peeked through the space between his cheek and elbow and saw an old Ford truck. Red, covered in dust. There were people inside, at least two, but maybe three. Allen could not tell from where he sat, and stayed still in hopes that perhaps this group had just stopped to look at the sign and check their map…

The passenger door opened. Allen hid his face, but he could hear the sound of someone jumping out of the car.**"**Hey," a male voice called down to him. "You alive?"

Allen kept his head down, unsure of how to react.

**"**Lavi, get back in the car!" said someone from inside the truck. It was a girl and she sounded afraid.

**"**We can't just leave people stranded," the man, Lavi, replied. Allen perked up a bit at this, tilting his head to the side so he could look at the scene above his elbow again. The man stood a few feet from the open passenger door. All Allen could see were his dusty combat boots and jeans. And the barrel of a shotgun held loosely in his right hand. Allen scooted backwards a bit. Perhaps he should take his chances in the overgrown field…

**"**I know, but…remember what we heard about…There are gangs out here. We should go!" she tried again, leaning out the open door. Allen could only see her pale hands gripping the place where the window had been rolled down.

**"**You heard her, kid. If you're alive, you'd better holler. If you aren't, then," he stopped, and Allen heard him cock his shotgun and take a step closer.

**"**P-Please!" Allen cried out, raising his voice but not his body. He kept himself low to the ground, holding out his hands in a gesture of peace. "I-I'm not armed. And I'm not one of them!" He kept his eyes on the ground, hands in the air. But the man's footsteps were coming closer. Allen heard him raise the gun.

**"**Lavi…" said the girl, her voice low with urgency.

**"**Stay in the car, Lenalee," Lavi replied, and it was with such calmness as he came closer, gun raised, that Allen felt himself tremble. He was going to die by this man's hand in the middle of nowhere. So close to Atlanta, and yet…so far…._I'm sorry, Mana. I'm so sorry…_Allen thought, willing himself not to cry.

And then the gun went off.

It wasn't like television, Allen realized, after the shot had been fired. All sound became distorted: high-pitched and far away, as if he were listening to words through a very long tunnel. Because of that, Allen did not hear the man approach him. Instead, he felt hands on his upper arms, gripping tightly enough to hold on, but not to bruise. _Safe..._Allen thought. They led him away from the shade of the Atlanta sign.

There were words, but Allen couldn't make sense of them for a few moments. Then they came through the high wailing in his ears:

**"**Are you okay?"

Allen looked up. Two green eyes stared back at him. _Very, very green, _Allen thought dazedly.

**"**Hey, kid," said the man. He had messy red fringe; half tucked up under a green bandanna with the rest of it falling everywhere else. There were three silver rings in his right ear.

"Kid?"

**"**I'm not a kid," Allen said, shaking his head a bit to clear out some of the ringing in his ears. When he did this, he closed his eyes so he did not have to look at the man. It had been so long since he had seen another person—it felt like ages—and he did not want to be caught staring for too long. Especially when that person had nearly killed him. "Why did you shoot at _me_?"

**"**Didn't shoot at _you_," Lavi replied, and turned Allen slightly to the right. Right where he had been sitting now lay the corpse of one of those…_things_. It essentially ended at the rib cage; its head had been blown off messily by the buckshot.

"Oh..."

**"**You dumb _fuck_."

Both Allen and Lavi's heads turned towards the truck, where a short-haired girl stood just outside of it, red-faced and with her fists clenched. She held a baseball bat in her right hand. The end was splattered with blood.

**"**Really ladylike, Lenalee," Lavi said.

**"**Fuck you," Lenalee snapped back. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

**"**But I didn't," Lavi replied. He sounded smug. "And look. We found another survivor. We could really use some extra hands. Even you know that."

Lenalee swung the baseball bat and Allen flinched as it stopped just inches from his nose.

**"**What's your name?" she asked.

**"**A-Allen Walker," he said.

**"**Where're you from, Allen Walker?" she asked, interrogating him with the threat of her weapon and the force of her gaze, as well as her cool, clipped tone.

**"**Madison," he replied.

**"**Did you get bitten or scratched or even _breathed on _by one of those things?" she asked, her gaze flicking over to the corpse a few feet from them.

**"**What?" Allen asked.

**"**Did. You. Get. Bit?" Lenalee repeated, enunciating each word clearly.

**"**No," Allen said, making sure to keep all uncertainty out of his tone so she didn't take his head off with that thing.

Lenalee stared at him for a long time. Her eyes were so dark that they were almost black. Even in the blistering summer heat, Allen shivered.

"Fine," she said, and twirled her wrist elegantly, taking the baseball bat in a wide arc from Allen's nose to rest over her shoulder instead.

"Get in the car."

**pqpq**

The inside of the cab felt steamy with two other bodies and no air conditioning. Allen sat in cramped back half-seat, sweating heavily. The open window did nothing to alleviate this discomfort, as the wind was dry enough to scratch his skin as they drove down the I-20.

"So you walked from Madison?"

Lavi asked this. He had his arm resting along the back of the front bench seat. He had turned his body a bit to look at Allen. Like Allen, he was sunburned and sweaty, but smiling. Beside him, Lenalee drove with a stony expression.

"Yeah," Allen said.

"Long way."

It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"You go through Covington at all?"

"A bit."

"Anything there?" Lavi asked. He looked hopeful.

"Not really," Allen said, leaning back against the seat. His clothes were sticking to his skin, but he ignored it. "But I only stopped at one exit."

"Which?" Lavi inquired.

"Third or fourth coming West," Allen said. "Why?"

"We're scavenging. We need a couple things. We were going to try to hit a few towns outside of Atlanta, but it's probably better to double back now while we have the daylight," Lavi answered. "The others will worry if we don't show up for the rendezvous."

"Others?" Allen asked, leaning forward. He felt his shirt cling to his back like a second skin, but his mind went elsewhere. There were people, more _people_ out there. People who were alive... Ever since the Event, Allen had not seen another living person. He had almost given up hope that humanity still hear that there were survivors made a weight in Allen's chest ease exponentially.

"Yeah. There's a bunch of us. We've got a network of small groups all within a fifty mile radius of Atlanta. We even heard stuff from folks up in Tennessee. It isn't much better up there than it is here, though," Lavi replied, rubbing the back of his neck. Lenalee turned off the I-20 and took a side exit. The road narrowed from four lanes to two.

"How are you talking with them?" Allen asked.

"With the internet and telephone down, it's been mostly through radio. We also have messengers make trips on the safe routes that we know about."

"And Atlanta?" Allen asked hopefully.

Lavi looked at him gravely and shook his head.

"It's a Dead town now," he said. Allen felt his stomach clench at the words.

"No one...no one's alive?" Allen asked.

"I don't think so. And if they were, they wouldn't be for long," Lavi said, turning his gaze to the road before them. "The refugee centers were safe at first, but the infection somehow spread. Now there's no food, water, anything. Just a bunch of zombies and not enough ammo." Allen said nothing to that, letting the silence take over. He didn't want to think about Atlanta, because it made him think about Mana. And the last thing he wanted to do was cry. Instead, he closed his eyes and let the motion of the truck ease him into a light sleep. After all those sleepless nights and scorching days, Allen was exhausted. So exhausted, that he thankfully didn't dream. But so tired that he didn't even feel the truck stop; didn't wake until a gentle hand on his shoulder shook him a bit.

"Hey. Wake up."

It took him a moment, but Allen managed to open his eyes. Lavi had leaned over the seat. His face hovered a few inches from Allen's. He had very dark eyelashes, Allen noticed, and found himself liking them very much. It must have been the sleep deprivation or dehydration talking.

"Hey," Lavi said again. Allen blinked.

"Hmm?"

"We're going to go look around."

Lavi produced a thermos and handed it to Allen; something swished inside of it. "Drink that and try to stay alert. We need some eyes looking out for us while we're out there." Lavi turned towards the dashboard for a second before resuming his previous position over the seat. A black walkie dangled in between his fingers. "If you see anything, push this button and talk right into it. We'll get back to the truck ASAP. Got it?" Allen took the walkie talkie and rested it on his knee.

"Got it."

Lavi smiled at him and touched his hair in an affectionate manner.

"You're alright, kid."

"It's Allen."

Lavi just laughed.

It was a beautiful sound.

**pqpq**

"We scored." The entire bed of the truck was crammed full of supplies: cans of gasoline, flats of food, water, rolls of toilet paper, and batteries. There were so many batteries that Allen did not know what to think.

"Did you guys rip off a Radio Shack or what?" Allen asked. After resting in the car and drinking a lot of water, he felt more alive than he had in a while. Because of that, he did not nod back off to sleep, but instead spent the time looking at the spoils of the raid.

"We never kiss and tell," Lavi said, and then glanced at Lenalee. "Well, _I _don't anyway. Don't know about this one here."

"Don't be a dick, Lavi," Lenalee replied, but she was smiling a bit. She had softened up after she saw how many supplies they had been able to acquire. Allen had even gotten her to open up a bit about herself. She was only seventeen, but she and her brother were the ones that started the safe haven for survivors. It was located in a quarry just south of their old house. It housed over thirty people, all with varying degrees of skill and trade. They were in contact with at least seven other survivor strongholds in the area. It was fantastic to know that he wasn't on his own. There were others. There was a chance.

"Love you," Lavi said, in a teasing voice.

"Shut up," she replied, laughing through her attempt to remain stoic. Allen could see her reflection in the rear view mirror. She was pretty when she wasn't being terrifying.

"Anyway, everyone's gonna love this stuff. We even found _honey_," Lavi said, and turned to look at Allen. He was grinning from ear to ear. "_Honey_! Do you know how awesome that's going to taste on _everything_?" Lavi's smile was infectious. Allen's cheeks hurt by the end of his monologue regarding the importance and joy of honey on everything from biscuits to ice cream.

During that ride, Allen felt like everything would be okay.

**pqpq**

"We're here," Lenalee said. They had met with another truck at around twilight and followed it along a dirt road through shrubbery that gave way to an abandoned suburb. Beyond its two miles of paved street, they were back off trail and moving through a heavily wooded area. Allen felt uneasy and he was not the only one. Lenalee's lips turned into a firm line; Lavi had his shotgun across his knees, window rolled partially down in case he had to make a quick decision about using firepower. But nothing happened. The trees gave way to a clearing and soon they were driving along a gravel driveway. It looped wide, around in a large circle, about one hundred feet above a major limestone quarry.

"It was abandoned ten years ago," Lenalee explained, as they drove down further into the old excavation site. "The water is actually pretty clean. I used to fish down here when I was a kid. It's safe and a good resource." The road got a little bumpy towards the bottom and Lenalee flicked on the headlights to see where she was going.

Darkness fell.

"So why did they abandon this place?" Allen asked. Dim flood lights turned on at their approach and Allen held up his hand to shield his eyes.

"Well it wasn't just for limestone," Lenalee said, as she pulled the truck under a metal pavilion. There were several lined up around the quarry's water hole. Dozens of other vehicles sat still in the night, ranging from minivans to armored vehicles. There was even a county ambulance. "There was something else they were building down here...for the government. They never finished, but they never caved it in, either. It's a bunker sort of thing, like for a nuclear fallout shelter."

"And it's hella useful," Lavi chimed in, hopping out of the front seat. He slid his shotgun strap over his shoulder. Allen followed him, carrying his own meager knapsack over one arm. "And speaking of hella useful, gimme a hand with some of this..." It took some work, but Allen managed to lift a few of the things Lavi gave to him and then followed the redhead and Lenalee into the entrance of their stronghold. There were two armed guards by the door. They wore masks. Allen could only see their eyes. "Toma and Devon," Lavi said, using his head to indicate which guard was which. Both of his hands were full carrying the large canisters of gasoline.

"You guys did good," Toma said. "Supplies and a new recruit."

"What can I say? We're fantastic," Lavi replied cheerfully.

**"**You have way too much fun," Lenalee said, carrying a cardboard box filled with dried foodstuffs. "It's not decent."

**"**Never claimed to _be _decent," Lavi answered. He and Lenalee bantered like they had been friends for a long time. It was as if Lenalee had read his mind when she replied:

**"**You're right. I've known you for almost all my life and I don't think there is a decent thing about you."

**"**Oh, rush me to the burn unit," Lavi said, feigning offense. Lenalee laughed and so did Lavi. Allen chuckled and wondered if they were dating. The thought of that being true made him feel a bit sad, though he didn't know why. Whatever the reason, it was a petty thought in such dire times. He didn't want to think about the subject again.

**pqpq**

**"**Welcome, welcome! Oh it's so good to see new faces!"

A dark-haired man with glasses descended upon Allen the moment he walked into the main entrance of the shelter, deep inside the quarry. He was forced to drop everything when the eccentric grabbed onto him and began shaking both of his hands at the same time.

**"**This is my brother, Komui," Lenalee said, as she set her box down on the nearest desk. It was covered in computer equipment and large maps of the area. A few people sat around the desk, but they had stopped talking upon their entrance.

**"**Nice to meet you, I'm Allen," he said.

**"**Oh it's so good to have you here," Komui said, and began leading Allen away from Lenalee and Lavi in order to give him a tour. He introduced Allen to everyone they came across: Johnny Gill and Reever Wenham were first up, in charge of communications and operations respectively. Then Jerry, the chef. Afterwards, the names blended into occupation: the head nurse, the head of security, the guards. There were almost thirty people living underground. They were all local for the most part. Only a handful had been picked up on the main road like Allen. Allen met one of them, Yuu Kanda, but he didn't say anything to Allen when they were introduced. He just looked annoyed and walked away.

**"**He's always like that. Don't take it personally," Komui said, as they doubled back around the concrete hallways. There were lights strung up on steel wire, but otherwise the corridors were barren and cold. They entered into a large room about the size of an auditorium. There were plastic picnic and laundry folding tables set up in disorderly rows. Some had office chairs or stools pulled up beside them for seating. There were no windows, like the rest of the compound, which made it a bit dreary. "This is what we've been using as a dining hall. Meals are at 8, 12, and 7. If you're on guard duty or out scavenging, you can always go in at a different time and Jerry will fix you something." He pointed at the kitchens through an open door, where Allen could hear the clanging of pots and pans beyond.

Then, Komui led him down a narrow passage and into a hallway filled with doors. "These were sort of like offices. We changed them into bedrooms. They aren't much, but they'll do for now. We'll fit you with a cot and some things to wear tonight." Komui then brought him back up the narrow passage and then hung a right.

"Now this is the heart of the shelter, aside from the main operations room." He opened a heavy door to a huge common area. It had probably been used for storage, but members of the group had made it as nice as they could. There were a dozen different lamps of all sizes scattered about for light and mismatched pieces of furniture-couches, chairs, loveseats, even beanbags-for seating. They used wooden crates as end and coffee tables. Some shabby bookcases sat with only a few books and magazines upon their shelves. It had been a dreary room, but they had tried to make it into something homey with the eclectic furniture and the mismatching frames of strange art upon the walls. Apparently it had worked, because the most people seemed to be in this room. A few girls were sitting and reading magazines. Younger children played with Legos underneath a multi-colored lamp. Some middle aged kids were drawing or reading. Their mothers sat on the sofa together, knitting. An older gentleman with a bow tie sat drinking tea from a chipped mug in an old wingback chair. Reever and Johnny had brought their paperwork into the lounge to work by better light. Kanda sat in the corner, sharpening a deadly looking sword. Two off-duty guards had their guns slung over their shoulders; they were playing Battleship across from one another on top of an apple crate.

**"**Aha, I knew you'd save this place for last."

Lavi appeared behind them. He had a plastic tub in his hands. Behind him, Lenalee carried something similar, but a bit smaller. **"**So what do you think? Our lounge is sweet, isn't it?" Lavi asked, as he set the box down on the nearest spare crate.

**"**It reminds me of home a little," Allen said honestly. One of the couches looked similar to the one in his living room; it was more comforting than he realized. Lavi smiled and put his hands on his hips.

**"**That's what we were hoping for," he replied, then turned to the occupants of the room. "Hey, everyone. We know it's been kind of boring for some of you, especially since we can't watch TV anymore, but Lenalee, Allen, and I found some cool stuff for you all." He opened up the crate and began pulling out the items inside. They were all paperback books. Allen saw popular selections with some classics; _The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo _mixed in with _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _and _Oliver Twist_. There were even children's books for the kids. They came running when they saw the Rick Riordan series, _The Hunger Games_, and some of the _Harry Potter _books. The younger ones tottered over at the sight of coloring books and crayons.

**"**We also have new games!" Lenalee said, setting her box down on an unoccupied couch. The middle-aged kids squealed excitedly at the sight of Jenga, while the adults appraised Yahtzee and Monopoly. Allen stood off to the side and watched their faces light up. He never realized that something so small could bring so much joy. The thought of gathering these things in a land torn apart by death seemed arbitrary while out there, surviving, but in here, it meant everything.

**"**It's the best we can do," Lavi said. He had escaped from the crowd and came to join Allen. He was positively glowing. So brightly that Allen could feel it latch on somewhere in his chest, soft and warm. "We can't let this defeat us. We just can't. Especially for those kids."

**"**We won't," Allen said. The books were strewn about all over the floor. There were new magazines at the bottom of the box for the teenage girls, who fought one another playfully for the newest issue of _Seventeen_. Across the room, Lenalee had approached Kanda with two brown boxes. Allen saw the first was full of paper. A second box held a black pot and a wooden brush.

**"**What is it?" Allen heard him ask Lenalee.

**"**A calligraphy set. We should keep practicing, don't you think?" Lenalee said. Her cheeks were pink and she looked like a young girl again, not the hardened woman carrying the bloody baseball bat.

**"**Yeah," Kanda said. His face didn't give anything away, but he had spoken more than a word to Lenalee. He had softened around the eyes and mouth too. Maybe he wasn't so closed off after all.

**"**Hey, Lavi, what the hell? This chess set is missing three pawns and a bishop!" Reever said, looking disappointed.

**"**No complaining! This is a complain-free space!" Lavi said with a grin. "C'mon we'll find some things to use as substitute pieces."

Just before he stepped away, Lavi put his arm around Allen's shoulders in a friendly hug.

**"**Welcome home."

**pqpq**


	2. Quarry

**Author's Note**: It's a little early, but I wanted to get this posted. I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am.

**pqpq**

August 7, 2012

Prompt #2: Quarry

**pqpq**

The first few days at the shelter were uneventful.

The first forty-eight hours or so, Allen spent under observation in the medical facility of the compound. There, he was able to take his first shower in weeks and attend to the build up of blisters on his feet. He was given fluids for his lingering dehydration and aloe for his sunburn. Then the Matron looked over his entire body to ensure that he truly had been been bitten or scratched in any way.

"It doesn't take long for the infection to spread," she explained as she put him to bed on the first night. "I know that you don't have anything, or else you'd be running a fever. But, Komui's orders that you stay here for a day or so to make sure."

Allen got some good rest, a few square meals, and some visitors. Lavi came by to see him at least twice a day. The redhead was always dirty and the Matron constantly scolded him for dragging mud into her infirmary. Despite this, Lavi came and sat with Allen when he had time. On the first day, Lavi brought a deck of cards and they played a few hands of poker, at which Allen was quite skilled, and rummy, at which Allen was not. If they had been playing for money, they would have been about even. The second day, Lavi came by with a bandanna full of cherry tomatoes. He used his body to hide them from the Matron as she moved in and out of the room.

"These are from the garden up on the ridge," Lavi explained in a whisper. "We're not supposed to take them, but they looked so good...don't tell Jerry. He'll have my head."

"Our secret," Allen said, popping a tomato into his mouth.

Lavi grinned. Allen did too.

"Awesome."

**pqpq**

Once Allen was released, he was given his, what Komui referred to as "welcome bag". Johnny called it the "mystery bag" and Reever the "bag of essential shit". Allen preferred the "goodie bag", as Lavi called it. It comprised of a backpack filled with essentials: one blanket, a flashlight and batteries, a waterproof watch, shoelaces, a towel, shampoo, soap, a hairbrush, a razor, and a can of shaving cream.

"I don't shave," Allen said, holding up the last two items in question.

"I'll trade you something for those. My razor is on its last leg," Lavi said, rubbing at his jaw. Allen could see the bits of stubble that he had missed during his morning shave. Perhaps they didn't go on scavenging missions to Wal-Mart or CVS very often.

"Don't worry about it. They're yours," Allen said, handing both items to Lavi. He looked as if someone had just told him Christmas had come early. It was nothing short of adorable. That moment was ruined, however, when Lavi's attention shifted from Allen as they were interrupted.

"What's that face for?" Lenalee asked as she came into the main office. She had a basket of tomatoes under her arms.

"Allen's getting his goodie bag," Lavi said, reaching forward to snag one of the fruits. Lenalee slapped his hand. "Ow, what the hell?" Lavi shook his hand with a wince. "That fucking stings."

"Someone's already gotten _their_ ration of tomatoes for the _season_ I think," Lenalee said.

"Aw, c'mon. I was hungry up there," Lavi whined. "Delivering peace and justice for the community requires energy. Which comes in the form of tomatoes. If I don't have my energy, where's the peace? Where's the _justice_?!"

"Justice? What are you, Batman?" Reever asked, as he picked up his files and left the room, Johnny at his heels.

"Hey, hey. Storm's coming, man. You wait until you need that justice," Lavi called after them, before turning back to Lenalee. "Hence the tomatoes."

"Look, steal any more and you won't get _any_ raspberries," Lenalee threatened, not listening to a word. Lavi quieted immediately, but he was pouting. When she left, Lavi sunk into the nearest office chair and spun around in it like a child that had just been punished.

"Jeez, always nagging. Nag, nag, nag. What a _mom_," Lavi said grumpily. The words had no sooner left his lips when Allen saw the change in him. The cheerfulness depleted, replaced by something sadder, more hollow behind his eyes.

"Lavi?" Allen asked, concerned. His voice prodded Lavi into his usual self. Within a second he was back up and beaming.

"C'mon, we've got to get you some clothes and then we'll find you a room," Lavi said. They spent the afternoon digging through piles of clothes and suitcases that had been uncovered from local homes. Allen felt strange digging through peoples' lives—and underwear—but he really needed some things to wear. He found a black suitcase buried under a bunch of women's garments and discovered that the majority of items within it actually fit him quite well. Afterwards, Lavi led him down the hallway towards the previous office spaces. All of the rooms were full with triple or quadruple occupants. Even Lavi's room did not have a spare corner.

"Well...I guess I could sleep in the lounge..." Allen said, after a fruitless search for space.

"No, we'll find someplace. Don't worry," Lavi replied. He ruffled Allen's silvery locks. Luckily, he didn't notice Allen's blush.

Eventually they settled on a small space. It had been used as an office supply room for copy paper and ink. About the size of a moderate walk-in closet, Allen would have to make it work. He set his suitcase down.

"Home sweet home?" he said. A spider ran over his shoe.

"Hey... we'll make it spiffy, yeah? And think about how jealous everyone will be that you've got your own room," Lavi said, winking at Allen. "It's the bachelor pad of this whole place."

Allen went red again, and this time, Lavi did notice. He laughed and pulled Allen along by the hand as they began a search for a spare cot. They found one, but realized that it wouldn't fit in the space no matter which way they turned it. So they went to Plan B.

"It's not the best...but it'll do...right?" Lavi asked. They had stolen some sort of insulation foam from the main office, which was used to transport electronic equipment, and laid it down on the floor. Then they put an old comforter on top of it, followed by a plush sleeping bag. When Allen sat down upon it, he sunk into the center. Lavi tried not to laugh, but he couldn't stop himself, and pretty soon the both of them were rolling around on the makeshift bed with a fit of the giggles.

"The end of the world kind of sucks," Allen said. Lavi huffed out a laugh and turned over onto his back. Both of their feet stuck out into the hallway through the open door.

"It does. But let me tell you, if the world hadn't ended, you would have been sleeping on much worse shit in college," Lavi said.

"Maybe one day I'll see for myself," Allen said. He turned onto his side and looked at the folds in Lavi's green t-shirt. They were so close that Allen could smell Lavi's soap. It was what everyone used, but it smelled good. So good that Allen felt he could close his eyes and fall asleep right there. They had just fallen shut when he felt Lavi's fingers touch his hair gently.

"Maybe."

**pqpq**

Allen eventually fell into a routine.

He woke up everyday at seven and had breakfast. Then he went and helped with whatever tasks needed to be done. Mostly it was internal guard duty, cleaning duty, or running water back and forth to the compound. They needed oh so many gallons of water a day to put into a tank that provided them with showers, running water in the faucets, and indoor toilets.

(Reever explained about the system, which filtered all the impurities out of the water through some sort of sterilization process. That water was used for drinking and bathing, while the rest of the untreated water was used for sanitation. The system had been partially installed in the shelter upon their arrival, as the main plumbing pipes had been laid in the shelter with the basic wiring for electricity. But the tank and filtration system had been stolen from the high school in the back of a U-Haul. Apparently Gozu knew a lot about mechanical engineering and was the one who had figured it out. That wasn't to say there weren't problems. The pipes leaked every night and the water pressure was atrociously poor. Not to mention, the filtration system keep needing constant repair, so there were stretches of time when there was no running water in the facility. They had to manually pump water from the quarry for two days in order to be able to utilize their sanitation system again. It was a nightmare.)

Then he had lunch. Afterwards he did more chores. He sometimes saw Lavi and Lenalee, but mostly it was just in passing or at mealtimes. Usually at dinner he sat with them and they talked about what had happened during the day or told funny stories. Then Allen waited in line for the shower and spent some time in the lounge. Then he went to bed. Every day turned into a similar schedule.

He met everyone within the compound and learned their stories. A lot of them were from around town, so they all knew one another. Somehow they had all avoided the initial bloodletting and had gathered together at a local supermarket. They had barricaded themselves inside for a few days until help came in the form of Yuu Kanda, who had been driving through town with his friend, Noise Marie. They gathered together, found more survivors hiding in a local clinic, and then began heading towards Atlanta. They met a roadblock: Reever Wenham's van from the local radio station WRKZ and Johnny Gill's broken down _Geek Squad _VW Beetle. From there they came into contact with Komui, Lenalee, and a few others who were on the emergency radio.

**"**That was one magic clusterfuck," was how Reever described it. "If I hadn't been looking for a signal from the CDC, I never would have heard Komui calling for survivors." They were at breakfast, forking down powdered eggs and biscuits. The eggs weren't very good, but Jerry said that he had to use the last of the real eggs to make the bread, so Allen wasn't complaining. He made sure to put extra honey on them, like Lavi had told him that day in the car.

**"**What about him?" Allen asked, nodding his head at the middle-aged man with the bow tie. He was reading at the breakfast table across from them. Lenalee sat a seat down from him with a book of her own. **"**Oh, that's Jake Russel. He's the high school history teacher," Reever said. "We ran into him on a scouting mission looking for cooking supplies at the high school. He was actually the one who tipped us off about the school's internal water filtration system."

**"**And Jerry?" Allen asked. The chef was whistling to himself as he rolled out more dough on the wooden block in front of him. Allen could see him through the open doorway.

**"**Found him at a bakery about fifteen miles from here," Reever replied. "Here we were trying to steal his generator and he was shoving cinnamon buns at us. We couldn't leave him behind."

**"**No way. Those cinnamon buns are righteous," Lavi said as he passed by. He nabbed a biscuit off Reever's plate.

**"**I was _eating that_, you cretin," Reever said.

**"**Saving you the calories," Lavi explained, as he poured honey all over the biscuit. Then he shoved it into his mouth and made a pleased sound.

**"**You're a pig," Reever told him, but it was with only fondness.

**"**A hungry pig on guard duty all morning," Lavi said in between bites. "Save me from the monotony."

**"**One of these days, guard duty might save all of our asses."

**"**True, but until then, save me from the monotony," Lavi whinged. He put the last bit of biscuit in his mouth, saluted Reever and Allen, and then walked away.

**"**That guy," Reever said, shaking his head. "I swear, we go crazy with him, but heaven help us if he wasn't here. We'd all be going postal by now."

**"**Oh, so what about Lavi?" Allen asked, trying to sound casual. "What's his story?"

**"**He went to high school with Lenalee, but he graduated early. I guess they're about the same age, but Lavi's gifted or something," Reever said, making a twirling motion with his finger at his temple. "Anyway, he was going to Duke, but was at his grandfather's place in Charlotte for the summer. He booked it down here after shit hit the fan."

**"**His parents?" Allen asked. Reever shrugged.

**"**Never talks about them. I dunno," Reever replied.

**"**What about his grandfather?"

**"**We're in contact with him. He's the records manager at Fort Bragg. He happened to be there when the world started falling apart, so he's safe. He told Lavi to come there, but the I-95 was so congested with zombies that he couldn't make it. Instead he came back here. He knew about the shelter. Apparently him and Lenalee and the other neighborhood kids would come down here to play all the time."

**"**Oh," Allen said, and poked at his eggs.

**"**You seem really interested in him," Reever said thoughtfully.

**"**I-I'm not. Not really. I mean, he saved me. I just wanted to know...because he doesn't talk about himself so..." Allen stumbled through his words. Reever nodded in understanding.

**"**Yeah. Folks around here either talk too much or not enough. You get used to it after a while. Now, c'mon. Let me show you the training room."

**pqpq**

They started training Allen in weaponry and combat.

He learned how to clean, load, and unload several guns. They taught him basic self-defense, armed and unarmed. Then they showed him various other weaponry, including crossbows, throwing knives, and even a katana. Allen preferred the bow, but he wasn't very good at it.

**"**You'll train with me three times a week," said the big, bald man in the training room. He was Kanda's friend, Noise Marie, and had been trained in Jujitsu, Karate, and Tae Kwon Do. Kanda was certified in Judo and Kendo, as well as Tae Kwon Do. They had met at their local dojo four or five years ago and had been training together ever since. With several certifications, they were authorized to teach anyone in the compound who wanted to learn. Even without them, Allen had a feeling they would have been in charge. "And if Kanda has time, you can spar with him on Sundays in the evenings."

**"**Okay," Allen said, and added the training to his list of things to do. It was tiring and he went to bed exhausted each night. But he had a roof over his head and food in his stomach and he was way too tired to dream about Mana, so that was a relief.

Saturday was the only good day.

On Saturdays, everyone went out and played in the quarry. They couldn't make a lot of noise, but that didn't stop them from having a good time. In the heat of the day, swimming in the water felt amazing. Afterwards, throwing a Frisbee around or playing volleyball was a welcome break to the endless chores that seemed to accumulate on a daily basis.

**"**Isn't it weird?" Lavi asked him, on Allen's second Saturday at the shelter.

**"**What?" Allen asked. They were sitting on the "beach" by the water. It was where the limestone had been crushed into an almost sand-like texture. Lavi and Allen sat in it instead of on the beach towel Lenalee had brought out to them.

**"**I mean, it doesn't feel like the world ended," Lavi said. He had on yellow sunglasses. There were stars on the sides. It all clashed horribly with his hair. "It feels like a normal Saturday."

**"**It kind of does," said Allen. He leaned back on his hands and squinted up at the sun. "I need sunglasses." Lavi took his shades off and handed them to Allen, who laughed.

**"**Those are for girls," he said. Lavi frowned and squinted at the glasses.

**"**No they're not," he replied.

**"**Yes they are. The stars are pink," Allen pointed out.

**"**They're a manly pink," Lavi said, putting them back on. "It takes a real man to pull off magenta."

Allen laughed until it hurt.

**pqpq**

The generator started malfunctioning in early September, so they began experiencing random cuts in power. Komui and the others decided that perhaps the generators were overloaded and they should start rationing power for certain tasks. The first hit was the air conditioning, which went off at nine at night, and then they enforced a rule that the lights had to be off by a certain time. Their lives became restricted and somewhat miserable. Allen couldn't sleep at night, even though he was tired, just because the heat was unbearable. One night, while tossing and turning in his sweat-damp clothes, Allen heard a knock on his door.

**"**Hey, Allen. You awake?" His door cracked open. Allen rolled over from his spot on the floor. The fake mattress nearly spit him out onto the concrete with the motion. Around his ankles, he found the discarded blanket that he had thrown off when the temperature had risen above ninety that night. "Allen?" In the space between the frame and the door, Allen saw Lavi's right eye looking at him.

**"**Yeah."

**"**You wanna go for a swim?"

**"**Ugh, I have to move?"

**"**It's better than lying in here and waiting for death," Lavi said cheerfully. "C'mon. It's balls hot in here. Let's get moving." His eye disappeared from the crack in the door and Allen heard him moving purposefully down the hall towards the main corridor. Allen scrambled up out of bed, pulling off his shorts and pulling on his trunks so quickly that he nearly tripped out of his cupboard.

**"**H-Hey wait!" Allen whispered, padding barefoot after him. Lavi stopped up ahead. He had on a gray tee and his green swimming shorts. He wore his shotgun across his back. "Do you always invite someone to go somewhere and then just run away?"

**"**No, just you," Lavi said with mirth.

**"**Why?" Allen asked, knowing he was being teased, but not minding it.

**"**Because I like seeing you chase after me," Lavi replied. His voice had lost some of its teasing, but Allen still did not know how to respond. He felt a bit of heat in his cheeks as Lavi put his arms behind his head and whistled softly for the rest of the way.

**pqpq**

**"**What are you guys doing out here?"

Kanda stood at the main entrance, arms across his chest. He scowled at the sight of them. Across from him, Marie just nodded his head at Allen and Lavi in greeting.

**"**Going for a swim, Yuu-chan. It's too hot in here," Lavi replied, not even flinching when Kanda suddenly moved forward. His katana stopped just centimeters from his throat.

**"**What did I tell you about that nickname?" Kanda asked dangerously.

**"**That it was adorable and you loved it?" Lavi said. Kanda made an irritated sound-probably at the insinuation that he loved anything-and dropped his weapon.

**"**I hope you get eaten by zombies," was all he said. Lavi laughed as Marie lifted the gate for them to pass through. They ducked under it and heard it close behind them.

**"**Toma and Gozu are on the ridge if you spot anything," Marie informed them. He passed them two large glow sticks through the grate and a small pistol. Upon closer inspection, Allen saw that it was a flare gun. "Be careful out there." **"**Aye, aye, captain," Lavi said, breaking both glow sticks. He handed one to Allen and took the other for himself. He put the flare gun in his back pocket.

**"**So why the glow sticks and not flashlights?" Allen asked, as they moved away from the gated entrance and went towards the water. Lavi's face was cast in an eerie green beside him.

**"**Well, they're not as bright as flashlights. I guess the zombies are attracted to bright white lights. That's why we dimmed our floodlights and try not to use flashlights when we're on night patrol," Lavi said. They picked their way over some rocks and soon arrived on the smooth sand of the beach. Lavi put his glow stick down and removed his gun. Then his shirt. Allen averted his eyes, because he didn't think it was right to stare.

**"**Can they not see this?" Allen asked, waving the glow stick.

**"**We don't really know. But the times that we have used them and been close to those things, they have a slower reaction time to us. It's like they know there's something there, but they're not drawn immediately to us," Lavi said. He removed the flare gun from his back pocket and placed it down next to his shotgun. "And, the great thing about these is that they can go underwater." With that said, Lavi immediately jumped into the black waters. He dropped the glow stick at the shallow bottom. It provided the perfect amount of illumination by which to see, but not be seen. Allen removed his shirt and joined him, letting out a sigh of relief at the night-cooled water that soothed the heat away from his skin.

**"**This is good..." Allen said, dropping his glow stick near Lavi's. Beneath their feet, the shallow bed lit up. Allen could see Lavi's face a bit better. His hair clung to his forehead and neck.

**"**Midnight swims are always the best," Lavi replied. He adjusted himself to float at the surface for a few minutes while Allen watched. "So what do you think. About all this?"

**"**About what?" Allen asked. He adjusted himself to float beside Lavi. His hand brushed Lavi's, but he didn't seem to notice.

**"**You know. All this zombie shit. What do you think? Are we gonna just wake up one day and it'll all be over?" Lavi reiterated. Allen pondered the sky for a long time. He could barely see stars beyond the clouds. There was only a sliver of a moon.

**"**I dunno," Allen said. "Maybe. I hope so."

**"**Yeah, me too."

They didn't say anything for a while. Lavi stopped floating after some time and began treading water, as if he were restless. Allen turned his head to look at him.

**"**You got parents?" Lavi asked.

**"**Not really," Allen said. Lavi looked at him and even in the dark, Allen could see his confusion. People usually were in this area, but even more so now. One question like that had inspired a crying fit in one woman in the compound just that morning. Her husband had been killed in front of her. "I'm adopted," Allen clarified.

**"**Oh," Lavi said. "Your adoptive parents?"

Allen let out a breath of air, a heavy sigh, and stopped floating. He wanted to face Lavi when they were talking about this. **"**Only have one. His name is Mana."

**"**Oh."

**"**He adopted me when I was ten. He and his wife had been hoping to take me in, but she died of Lymphoma just before the final paperwork was complete. Mana took me in anyway and raised me on his own. I think it was really hard for him after Sasha died, but that I at least helped make it easier. We moved to Madison when I started middle school and he quit his job at this really high-stress advertising company so that he could have the hours he wanted. It was great...he came to all my soccer games and we went on vacations every year up north to go skiing. He taught me how to play piano..." Allen felt his eyes prickling with tears, but he kept them from falling. "He was a good dad. A really, really good dad. And a great man. He... His company wanted to promote him and they sent him to this conference. He was away on business when everything happened..." They tread water and looked at each other for a while. Allen swallowed and forced himself to look Lavi in the eyes. They widened marginally when Allen spoke again:

**"**He's in Atlanta."

**"**Atlanta..."

**"**Yeah. So I guess that means..."

**"**No, don't say that," Lavi interrupted him before he could finish.

**"**You said that."

Lavi closed his mouth. Allen continued.

**"**You told me Atlanta's a dead town now. And if people were alive, they'll die inside because they can't possibly get out," Allen said. He surprised himself with the words. The things that had been tormenting him since Lavi and Lenalee had put him in the truck and brought him to the quarry...they were all coming out of his mouth so clearly. It hurt to say, but it also felt like pressure had been relieved from a wound. Allen didn't have to bear this alone anymore. "So, he's probably dead." Allen wanted to cry, but his tears had already been shed. Besides, Lavi didn't need to see that. No one needed to see that.

**"**You can't...give up hoping, though," Lavi said. His voice came quietly, quieter than Allen had ever heard before. When he looked closely, Allen could see the redhead's face: tired, lined with a sadness he had never seen. "You've got to...you've got to believe in something, right?"

**"**So says the guy who never comes to Sunday service," Allen said, trying for a joke. It was true. At their Sunday services, Allen had not once seen Lavi there. _He's atheist_, Lenalee had explained, but how anyone could not believe in anything during such a tumultuous time was beyond Allen. And now the non-believer was telling him to believe in something? Something almost unbelievable? "You're a walking paradox."

**"**I may not believe in a higher power, but that doesn't mean I don't have faith in people," Lavi said. "I believe that we're the masters of our own fate. We can make miracles happen without divine intervention. We..." he stopped, sighed. "Never mind. Religious and spiritual matters aside, don't give up. Don't give up just yet."

**"**Why?" Allen asked. "You said-"

**"**I know what I said. Atlanta is lost, but that doesn't mean 100% of the people in the city will die. People are resourceful. They can be smart. They can live through terrible things," Lavi said. His voice sounded pained with his own experiences. "So you have to believe that Mana might have made it. Don't count him out so quickly."

Allen looked at him for a long time.

**"**Who is it?"

**"**Who is who?"

**"**Who is in Atlanta that you know and don't want to believe dead?"

Lavi smiled, very sadly.

**"**My parents."

He turned onto his back and began floating again.

**"**They separated when I started high school. I lived with my mom here in town. Dad moved to Atlanta. They were trying to work things out, but it didn't seem to be getting any better by the time I graduated. I got a scholarship at Duke, so I went. My grandfather lived nearby, so sometimes on weekends I would see him. This summer I was living with him until my parents could get time off work to see me. My mom agreed to stay with my dad at his apartment in Atlanta. I was supposed to fly in and meet them at the airport. We were going to spend time together like a normal family. They even got reservations at this great Italian place we used to go to when I was a kid. We were going there for my birthday..." Lavi stopped and quieted for a moment. Then he continued. "The night before...everything went to hell...my mom drove to Atlanta. I talked to them on Skype. They seemed...happy, you know? After so many years, it was finally starting to work out. And then... I wake up ready to go to the airport and my neighbor is out on the front lawn, eating the mailman."

Lavi stopped talking. He looked so small and sad in the greenish glow of the water.

**"**I don't want to believe that they're dead. Not yet," he said finally. "Not now."

Quiet again. Somewhere in the woods surrounding the quarry, Allen heard an owl's nocturnal cry. He wanted to say something to break the ugly silence between him, but he couldn't think of any words. Nothing could be comforting, Allen knew. They were in the same situation; nothing would make them feel comforted until they saw their families again. Until then, the words were empty. Apologies for things beyond their control meant nothing at all. So Allen thought about other things. What did he really want to say more than anything to this man beside him?

**"**You know, I never said thanks," Allen said, breaking the unnatural stillness.

**"**For what?" Lavi asked.

**"**For stopping that day. You saved me. You really did. You saved my life," Allen said earnestly. He was treading water again, looking at Lavi; looking at the drops of moisture clinging to his dark eyelashes. It wasn't fair how much he liked to look and hated himself for it at the same time.

"Thank you."

Lavi's smile returned as he turned to face Allen.

**"**You're welcome."

**pqpq**

They climbed out of the lake and sat on the rocks to dry off. Allen leaned back on his palms and surveyed the surrounding lip of the quarry, which extended halfway to the sky before melding in with the darkness. A few times, Allen caught sight of the greenish glow of glow sticks in the surrounding woodland. The thought of Toma and Gozu up on the ridge, walking through the forest in the dead of night, was somewhat terrifying. Actually, extremely terrifying, though Allen didn't dare to admit it.

**"**So how long is night patrol out?" Allen asked.

**"**They switch shifts every four or five hours," Lavi replied through a yawn. Now that they were both cooled down, the events of the day were wearing on them. Allen could feel his own tiredness descending down upon him, but the thought of having to go back into the sweltering confides of the shelter to sleep made him struggle to resist his exhaustion. "You'll have to do it, too, but they adjust your schedule and let you sleep in so you're not ragged."

**"**I'll have to go out there?" Allen asked.

**"**Of course," Lavi replied, and turned to smirk at him. "Scared?"

**"**Yeah," Allen said, because he didn't care what people thought of him. It was terrifying to go out into the darkness with only half the light of a glow stick and a small weapon. Allen had seen those things traveling in packs. They weren't to be taken lightly.

**"**Good. Anyone who isn't, is stupid. Night duty, well...it's the worst," Lavi agreed, "but at least you won't be alone. If I don't go out with you, Kanda or Marie will." He put his hand on Allen's shoulder and squeezed. His palm felt warm against Allen's bare skin. "Don't worry. We all look out for each other here."

Allen smiled. And then he leaned forward and kissed Lavi softly on the cheek. He had no idea what possessed him to do it, but he did, and said:

**"**Thanks."

Even though it was dark, Allen could tell that Lavi was as red as his hair.

**"**Yeah, no problem."

**pqpq**


	3. Paranoia

**Author's Note**: Yeah, I know. This was supposed to be out last week. Unfortunately, season start happened at my store and I've been working a lot of hours at my second job as well as my first. So I basically fell into bed every night. Fear not. This story will be completed, even if it extends beyond Laven week. We have a few more chapters to go. Thanks for sticking with me on this project, guys. And enjoy the super long chapter! Over 10,000 words!

**pqpq**

(Supposed to be posted) August 8, 2012

(Actually posted) August 14, 2012

Prompt #3: Paranoia

**pqpq**

Allen was sent out on patrol the following week.

He did day shifts with Michael or Toma. They walked up and down the ridges around the quarry for hours in the scorching heat, only stopping to take small breaks when the blazing sunlight became insufferable. They never saw anything, but always carried multiple weapons and walkies just in case. It seemed like they were always prepared for the worst, which was probably for the best in the current situation.

Sometimes Allen got to work with Jake Russel, the history teacher. Allen liked the days he worked with Mr. Russel, because he was one of those people that could talk about nothing and still be interesting. He had taught both Lavi and Lenalee and had nothing but good things to say about the both of them. In fact, he only had good things to say about everyone. He was upbeat, but not in the same manner as Lavi; different, but still good. Allen felt at ease in his presence. He learned things, too. As they walked through the forests on patrol in the final days of September, Mr. Russel pointed out different plants and herbs that could or could not be eaten. He even knew about some medicines that could be extracted from leaves and berries. When it became unbearably hot, they would hide in the low branches of nearby pine trees and throw the cones down into the quarry.

"So what do you think all of this is?" Allen asked.

"I really don't know," Mr. Russel said. He adjusted himself on the ground beneath the pine tree. Allen lounged in the branch above him. "Sometimes I wish I would have been a scientist. Maybe I could be helping people figure out what caused all of this." He stood up after a while and brushed the grass off the back of his khaki pants. Despite the weather, Mr. Russel wore the clothes he would usually wear to class. He explained it to Allen one night at dinner: _I've been wearing the same wardrobe for thirteen years. If I change it now, that means something really has changed, and probably for the worst. So I'll keep wearing what I've been wearing. That way, I'll be ready to go back to teaching when the time comes_.

"You know, Mr. Russel," Allen said, as they began walking down the path around the quarry. "You shouldn't worry about the past. I mean, sure you didn't become a scientist so you can't help with finding a cure or at least an answer. But think about this: if things stay the way they are, we're really going to need someone like you. You know, to teach people about history so we don't forget about where we came from…and how we got here."

"You know, Lavi said the same thing. My best student, always will be,'" Mr. Russel said, putting his hands into his pockets. He was smiling. "The both of you are right. We need historians just as much as we need scientists. And we need scientists as much as we need artists and musicians. The human race cannot survive on one source of knowledge or inspiration alone. We need to continue nurturing all facets of it. Now, more than ever, I think."

"Yeah," Allen agreed.

"We also need to fall in love," Mr. Russel said. He was looking at the sky. "We need to fall in love or else... we're nothing at all."

From down below, Allen could see Lavi's bright red hair. He was waving at Allen. And smiling. Allen lifted his hand to wave back, but he hesitated halfway.

_No. I can't fall in love. _

Allen clenched his hands into fists and looked down at his dusty shoes. He did not want to think about falling in love. His sort of love was wrong before, and it would most certainly be now. Mana never cared, not one bit. But now the human race was left in shambles and they were trying to pick up the pieces of humanity. Once that happened, they would have to settle down. They would have to repopulate. And even though Allen's heart wasn't in it, he could not reject that duty. If he survived, he would have to have children. And he couldn't do that with another man. It would be turning his back on his own species if he chose otherwise.

"Allen?"

Mr. Russel had his hand on Allen's shoulder. He squeezed it gently, like Lavi had that night.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Allen said. There were tears on his cheeks. He wiped them away.

"I'm fine."

**pqpq**

Allen's new schedule of patrol and guard duty caused him to keep odd hours.

He rarely saw Lenalee or any of the others. The people he saw most often were Jerry—who made sure he had a decent helping of food at every mealtime—and Toma or Gozu. Once, he had to go out with Kanda, and those six hours dragged for what seemed like forever. Kanda didn't talk and when he did, it was some sort of angry snarl in Allen's direction for being either 1) slow; 2) stupid or; 3) a combination of slow and stupid. Luckily, Allen didn't have to go out with him again, and his Sundays were too busy to spar with the angry Japanese man. Allen thought that was very lucky. He was also very lucky that he had never been put out on patrol with Lavi.

He just couldn't do it.

Ever since the day on the ridge, Allen had been trying to distance himself. If he saw Lavi in the dining hall or the lounge, Allen would leave. If they passed by each other in the corridor, Allen would make a hasty excuse and run in the opposite direction. It was for the best, Allen decided, because that way, neither of them would get hurt.

But that didn't stop Allen from missing him. He missed his smile and those green, green eyes. He missed the unexpected laughter that arose when they were together. It sucked, because everything reminded him of Lavi. After all, if the other boy hadn't rescued him, he wouldn't even be there... But most of all, he missed the talks that they had. He could have really used one that evening.

It was his first night patrol.

"You'll be fine. Just don't get eaten," Reever said, patting his back as Allen made for the door.

"Thanks," Allen replied. His stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of being out there _in the dark _with those things. What if he couldn't raise his crossbow? What if he missed? What if he couldn't run away? What if he _died_ out there?

"Just stay close," Toma said, when Marie opened the gate for them that night. The quarry stretched long and black before them, like a gaping maw of darkness. Allen felt a cold sweat rise along his spine, but he managed to nod stiffly and follow the other man out into the black. The gate shut behind them with a resounding clang. Allen jumped. Toma patted his arm. "It's just like day patrol: we just go a little slower and stay closer. If you see or hear anything, just stay down and walkie it in. The guys in the control room can hear it too."

Allen nodded again, too afraid to open his mouth in fear of sicking up all over the place. He kept pace with Toma as they lit their glow sticks and began carefully walking along the dirt path upwards toward the ridge. Allen kept a clammy grip on his crossbow, not feeling the slightest bit safer because of it or the gun at his back or the glowing light on his belt. He made sure to keep Toma in sight at all times as they left the openness of the quarry and went deep into the forestry surrounding it. The darkness became all-encompassing; Allen could barely see the moon above them through the thick tree branches. Toma picked through the underbrush like a pro, while Allen stumbled through it, his heart racing at each snapped twig caused by his own feet.

As they walked, Allen became hyper aware of everything. He heard the birds in the treetops and the rodents in the shrubbery. Several times, Allen stopped because he thought he heard someone following them, but when he and Toma came to a standstill, the sounds ceased.

"It's okay," Toma said as they continued walking. "You're a little paranoid. It happens to everyone."

"I heard something," Allen insisted.

"Just keep an eye out," Toma replied, and they didn't speak about the subject any further. Allen felt his hands shaking on his bow as they came to a clearing. Below them, the quarry sat dark and silent. Allen felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up. He turned around, but nothing was there.

"Toma…" Allen said.

"You've got the jitters, that's all. Take a break," Toma told him, as he sat down on an overturned tree near the edge. He rested the lance beside him as he walkied back to the main control room for their first mid-point check-in. While he spoke quietly into the device, Allen squatted down onto the ground and held his crossbow loosely in his hands. He tried to still his breaths to hear something, but he could detect nothing over the sound of his own heartbeat.

It took him a few moments to realize Toma was speaking to him.

"Allen?"

"Yeah?"

"C'mon, let's keep moving," Toma said. He clipped the walkie back onto his belt and picked up the lance. No sooner had he done this when Allen heard the sound again. It was closer, like someone walking through the brush. No, not walking; staggering. And Toma heard it too, judging by the way he looked at Allen and gave him a hand sign: _stay down_. Allen crouched, shaking as he heard the sound coming closer, rustling the leaves and low-lying branches. Then, the sound of a shuddering intake of breath, followed by an unmistakable groan reached Allen's ears.

_Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…_

The words came like a mantra in Allen's head, as he tried to discern where the creature would emerge from. The left? The right? Straight ahead? The two of them were cornered in the clearing. The only way out was a fifty foot drop into the stone quarry, followed by an incline that would take them another twenty or so into the heart of the lake. So after breaking every bone in the human body, they would be thrown into the water, where they would without a doubt, drown… Allen was drenched in sweat, turning his head each time he heard a sound. The zombie was out there, no doubt, but where, Allen could not see…

And then it shot out of the darkness, right at Toma's throat.

Allen had never seen one move so fast before. It jumped at Toma and fell against him with enough force that they both went toppling backwards. Toma's lance fell from his hand and clattered over the edge and into the ravine. Allen raised his weapon, but the two bodies were one in the darkness. With Toma thrashing about, Allen did not have a clear shot. And when Toma began to scream in agony, Allen froze entirely. He smelled decay and dirt and blood. By the dim light from his belt, Allen could only see small fragments of details: the half-missing jaw of the creature, the dead black eyes, and the entrails dripping from its lopsided mouth…

Toma's intestines spilled out onto the ground.

His screaming continued, but it became muted as blood began to fill his throat. Allen could hear him choking on it as he tried to vocalize his anguish. And then finally, _finally, _Allen could move again. He took an arrow and shot it directly into the zombie's throat. It looked started for a moment, but did not die. Instead, it turned its head and stared directly at Allen. Allen could barely load another arrow when he saw its face entirely: nose gnawed off, jaw and cheek completely blown apart with bits of flesh still hanging in strips below the right eye. It let out a terrible sound and came rushing at Allen.

He closed his eyes, lifted the crossbow, and fired.

Allen heard the zombie fall just a few feet shy of him. It was quiet; Allen could only hear his own breathing and his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Toma was silent. When he opened his eyes, Allen saw the undead on the ground with an arrow directly through its skull. But it wasn't Allen's arrow; it had red tipped feathers.

"Christ, what the fuck happened up here?"

Suddenly, there were lights everywhere. It took Allen a moment to realize that they belonged to Kanda and Marie and…

"Lavi?" Allen said; his voice came out so faint that he should have felt embarrassed, but he didn't have the strength to care.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" Lavi asked, and suddenly he was by his side. Lavi's hands came to rest upon his arms, moving up and then down them as if searching for injuries as well as offering some comfort. Allen could smell his soap and shampoo and it calmed him considerably.

"Shit…"

"Fuck, Toma's dead…"

Kanda and Marie stood off to the side, looking over Toma's corpse. Allen couldn't bear to look at it, but caught sight of the body in the beam of their glow sticks.

"Allen?" Lavi said, shaking Allen's shoulder gently.

"Gonna be sick…" Allen managed to get out, before he turned over and hurled into the nearest bush. As he emptied his stomach into the brush, Allen felt Lavi's warm palm rubbing his back in a comforting circular motion.

"You're okay. It's okay, Allen…" Lavi kept repeating to him, as Allen dry heaved and tried to fight tears.

"We're going to need double reinforcements tonight," Kanda was saying, when Allen had gotten some control over himself. "Walkie it in." Marie did as he was told, contacting the others to explain the situation.

"What are we going to do with him?" Lavi asked.

"Leave him out here. We'll take care of him at dawn," Kanda said. For a panicked moment, Allen thought they were talking about him, but then felt the guilt take over when he realized they were referring to Toma's body.

"We shouldn't…" Lavi began, but Kanda cut him off.

"Do you want to drag him back and let his smell attract more of them?" Kanda asked, and Lavi dropped the argument with a shake of his head. "That's what I thought. Leave him out here and we'll take care of it later. The last thing he would want was for us to get everyone killed just because he had an unfortunately poor shot for a lookout."

The stab hit Allen hard.

"Yuu, don't be such a prick. He did his best," Lavi said.

"_Did his best?_" Kanda repeated, rounding on Lavi. "He got someone _killed_, Lavi. Toma is fucking _dead_ because he was too chicken shit to do anything." Kanda pointed his sword at Allen. "If you can't pull your weight around here, you should _get the fuck out_."

"That's fucking _brilliant_, Kanda. Kill everyone who fucks up? Is that your plan?" Lavi asked. Allen noticed that he had positioned himself a bit more in front of Allen, as if to protect him from Kanda's wrath. "You'll be alone real fast if that's your default course of action."

"I don't care. I'm not dying because people can't do their jobs," Kanda said. "I didn't come this far to die like that."

"And everyone else is just expendable, then?" Lavi retorted. "_Everyone_?" The emphasis that he put on the word must have struck something in Kanda. His face looked stonier than ever in the greenish glow surrounding them.

"Fuck you, Lavi," Kanda said and turned away to look over Toma's body. His back was nothing but a black silhouette in the darkness. He held his sword in his right hand. At first, he did nothing at all. Perhaps he was praying. Allen had no sooner thought this when suddenly, the katana moved. It made a smooth, short arc in the air before coming down. It cleanly took Toma's head right off. Allen gagged, feeling bitter bile in his throat, but luckily nothing came up. Kanda didn't notice. He sheathed his sword and turned towards the forest. Allen saw Lavi's shoulders relax a bit with his relieved exhale of breath as Kanda got back down to business. "Let's get out of here. Before more of them come." He and Marie turned back down the path towards the quarry.

"C'mon, you heard him," Lavi said, standing up from his kneeling position on the ground. He offered a hand to Allen and helped him upright. Allen's knees shook a bit, but Lavi got a firm grasp on his shoulders and held him steady. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Allen said, nodding. He realized that they were very close and that Lavi hadn't let go of his upper arms. Allen had not been this close to the other boy in over two weeks. It was unsettling how much he had missed the contact between him; even more so how much more he craved. Allen cleared his throat and backed away, pulling out of Lavi's hold. Even in the low light, Allen could tell the action had hurt Lavi. "I'm fine."

"Good," Lavi replied. It came out civil, but the feeling underneath it could not be masked. He was hurt, badly. Naturally after Allen had been so cold to him the past few weeks; and after he had defended Allen with such passion against Kanda.

"Lavi…I'm…" Allen began, but he stopped when he noticed Lavi was no longer listening. Instead, he went to the zombie that lay motionless on the ground between them and Toma's corpse. With a swift yank, Lavi pulled the arrow from the creature's head. It was then that Allen took in the longbow and a quiver over his shoulder. All of the feather tips were red.

"It was you…" Allen said, as they began hurrying through the trees after Kanda and Marie's lights up ahead. Lavi didn't hear him, or if he did, he pretended not to. He had his bow out and the bloody arrow ready at his side. When Allen caught sight of his profile, it was grim. His lips were set in a firm frown. There was no trace of laughter or happiness there.

For the entire walk back to the safe house, Allen felt like he was following a stranger.

**pqpq**

Word got out fast.

The compound was alive with activity and light when they went through the gate and down the main corridor towards the operations room. When they arrived, Komui and all the others were awake and solemn-eyed. Allen hung his head in shame. Luckily, Kanda didn't say anything, he just went right into business.

"We need more reinforcements out there. This is the closest we've ever seen one to the quarry," he said. Komui took off his glasses and pointed at the mismatched set of chairs around the table, which was still cluttered with maps and electronics equipment. With some trepidation, they all sat as they were instructed.

"What we need to do is evacuate," Komui announced eventually. His voice came out quiet, but firm. It did not shake, but Allen could tell he was afraid.

"Fuck that," Kanda said. "It was just one walker."

"Certainly we don't need to do something quite so…drastic," Marie said, always the voice of calm reason.

"The situation has…escalated," Komui replied, sitting down across from them. "Beyond the unfortunate incidents of tonight." Komui glanced at Allen, but he averted his eyes and looked at his hands instead.

"What's been going on?" Lavi asked.

"Well…" Komui began with a great intake of breath: "Johnny and Reever have set up cameras around our perimeter; a little further than our usual patrols take us. We have them on battery backup and they're programmed to transmit the information back to their computers through a closed circuit connection. That way we have more eyes out there than just yours. Johnny has been monitoring the activity of these cameras for a few weeks now and, well…show them."

Johnny came forward with his IBM laptop. It was as thick as a brick and made a loud sound when he set it down.

"Okay, so here are the images from three weeks ago," Johnny said, pushing up his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. The screen was split into four different quadrants, each showing a different part of the woods. They were devoid of everything except for trees and leaves. "And this is the one from the beginning of this week." The images changed. Allen saw at least one zombie in each panel. "Three days ago." There were more of them in each shot. "Yesterday." It looked like an entire horde had come to inhabit the woods. "This one is from twelve hours ago."

There was nothing from any camera.

"They've been destroyed," Johnny said.

"What does that mean?" Lavi asked. He had leaned forward in his seat. He looked anxious.

"It means we're being invaded," Komui said. "So we need to get out while we still can."

"Where are we going? One of the other shelters?" Marie asked. Komui nodded.

"I'm in contact with a friend of mine. He has a property about fifty miles east of here."

"When do we leave?" Kanda asked.

Komui's face was paper white.

"Dawn."

**pqpq  
**

They spent the early hours of the morning loading their vehicles full of supplies. Everyone seemed panicked as they rushed items back and forth from the inventory rooms to the waiting cars and trucks outside. Allen tried to help, but Lavi pushed him into the back room of the kitchen with Jerry and told him to sit down.

"You're still in shock," Lavi said, not unkindly but with no trace of his characteristic gentleness. He handed Allen a bottle of water. "Drink all of this." He snagged one of the last cinnamon buns off the counter and put it in Allen's hands. "And eat this. You need food." Turning to Jerry, Lavi said: "Keep an eye on him."

"Absolutely," Jerry said, and dropped a fire blanket on top of Allen's shoulders.

"And pack up your shit. Only what you need. We'll scavenge the rest later," Lavi told him.

"Such a gentleman," said Jerry, handing Lavi a tin of cornbread biscuits. "Now eat up and get everyone else to have something too. We're not wasting them and the last thing we all want is everyone dropping of starvation."

"So dramatic," Lavi said, and his grin returned partially as he accepted the bread. "I'll be back to get you guys when it's time to go." And with that, he disappeared out the door and into the chaos. He did not even look back at Allen or acknowledge him in any way. Jerry began packing. Miserably, Allen forced himself to drink water and eat the confectionary in his hands. He felt sick afterwards, but he managed to keep it down.

"Hey, darling," Jerry said, sitting down on the bench next to Allen. He took off his sunglasses and put them in his lap. Then he put his arm around Allen's shoulders and held him close. His dreadlocks smelled like icing and chocolate. "Don't hate yourself. Don't you ever hate yourself."

"Toma's dead because of me," Allen replied hollowly.

"No. Toma's dead because he was brave and went out into the darkness to fight the devil. That's not your fault."

"I should have killed it. I was close enough, but I couldn't…"

"Hey," Jerry said sternly. "Don't keep thinking about the past. Don't keep thinking in that should've, would've, could've way. It'll eat you up inside. The best you can do now for Toma and everyone else is to keep on living." He put his sunglasses back on. "We need you, Allen. We all need each other, now. Don't forget that."

"Okay."

"Now, boy, help me with these pots and pans. I am not about to let my little soldiers go hungry."

**pqpq**

In the morning, the cars were loaded and ready to leave. The inside of the shelter had been cleared out almost entirely. It looked as if no one had ever lived there. Allen thought it felt wrong, spooky almost, to see it so devoid of life and color. Not even eight hours before it had been home. Now it was nothing but a cavity inside the earth.

"Shame we had to leave the generators behind…" Reever said mournfully from beside Allen. They all had gathered out front of the main gate for a headcount and to divvy each person into a specific vehicle. It was a bit cold; autumn was fast approaching. Some fog hung over the quarry lake and in the surrounding trees, giving a hazy softness to the surrounding landscape. However, Allen did not find it peaceful or quaint or however else people might have described it before. Now, it was nothing but quiet and eerie. Allen pulled the hood of his jacket up to keep his ears warm. "Goddamn shame," Reever kept on saying.

"Yeah, but Komui's contact has his own at least," Johnny replied, and held up his messenger bag. "Plus I took a few parts from it. You know, the parts that we had to replace when we first got here? I figured it couldn't hurt, just in case we overload the generators when we arrive. At least we'll have spares."

"You're too smart for your own good," Reever said, almost cheerfully as he gave Johnny a one-armed hug. "Nerds are awesome."

"So tight…can't breathe…." Johnny gasped. Allen managed to smile at their antics. From across the group, Allen caught sight of Lavi watching him, but the redhead turned away when their eyes met. They focused on the figure climbing up onto the tires of the county ambulance.

"Good morning, everyone," Komui said from the hood of said ambulance. The group mumbled back their replies. "I know this isn't the most ideal situation, but it's for our safety. We've got to keep moving in order to survive. This was a wonderful safe haven for a time, but now, it is time to move on." He paused and looked at everyone; his eyes lingered on Lenalee a bit longer than everyone else. Allen saw her pull a baseball cap low over her eyes; he could not see her expression.

"So this is the best course of action. We'll be taking the I-20 east just past Madison—" Allen's head snapped up with interest at the mention of his hometown. "—and from there we will be taking the 129 south towards Lake Oconee for rendezvous with Bak Chang's group. Even though it's only about fifty miles from here, we don't know what the roads are like out there. So we've got to leave now and be prepared for anything. Remember to stay with the group and walkie if something goes awry. Reever will help sort you into your groups for transport."

Komui looked awkward for a moment, as if unsure how to continue. Allen supposed he didn't have much public speaking to worry about as a county zoning officer before everything happened.

"Good luck…and Godspeed."

"We'll be leaving in thirty minutes people," Reever said, taking control with his clipboard in hand as Komui slid down from the hood of the ambulance. He went to talk to Lenalee, who stood next to the vehicle in a pair of ratty jeans and hiking boots. She wore a backpack bigger than her small frame. In her hand, her trusty baseball bat. They began talking—arguing, it looked like—but Allen could not see anything but Lenalee's mouth; her eyes were still obscured by the brim of her cap. "Allen." Reever was suddenly in front of him, blocking his view. He had his nose in his clipboard. "You're in the truck with Lavi and Lenalee." Allen could only nod numbly as Reever stalked off to go talk to other people.

He had to ride the entire way with Lavi and that made Allen feel even more miserable than before. After what he had done and how he had been treating the redhead…he was not looking forward to the excursion. Then, to add to his misery, someone came up and punched him in the arm. Hard.

"Ow," Allen said, rubbing the offended spot. Lenalee glared at him from under the brim of her hat.

"C'mon, let's go," she said.

"Go? Go where? We're not leaving yet," Allen replied. She didn't say anything, just grabbed him roughly by the arm and began dragging him towards the truck. Her nails dug into his skin and he squirmed in her grip, but did not pull away. She all but shoved him through the passenger door. When she got in on the driver's side, she laid on the horn and leaned out the window. "Lavi! Get your ass in here!" When Lavi trotted over to her window, Allen sunk down in his seat.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, mock saluting her as he ran around the back of the truck. Allen watched him throw his bag into the bed of the truck. Then he hopped onto the bumper and crawled in beside it. Judging from the amount of stuff Allen had seen packed into it, there was not much room for Lavi to sit. But he found a place on top of some plastic containers restrained with bungee cords. Then he slammed his palm on the side of the truck twice and Lenalee took off. She drove aggressively up the hill, bouncing all of them in their seats. At one point, Allen thought he heard Allen say something about _crazy women drivers_ but it could have been his imagination.

When they made it up on the ridge, Allen felt his heart sink and stomach clench. He knew exactly where they were going.

"Mikael and Gozu buried him this morning," Lenalee said. Her eyes were hard, staring straight ahead at the road. She did not look at Allen. "Well, whatever was left of him."

"It's my fault," Allen said, owning up to it with all the strength he had left. Through the open back window, Allen heard the wind and the sound of gasoline cans bumping against one another. Beneath it all, he could pick up the faint off-key tune of Lavi's whistling. "I…failed."

"The least you can do now is pay your respects," Lenalee replied. She didn't accuse him of anything, but Allen could almost feel it rolling off of her in waves. He looked out the window until the truck came to a stop. "Let's go."

By the time Allen had gotten out of the car, both Lavi and Lenalee had wandered away from the truck and towards the clearing. Even in the weak sunlight of a gray dawn, the place was just as terrifying as the previous night. Allen could see the remnants of what had occurred; the blackish streaks upon the ground, strips of bloody fabric, and the cluster of footprints within the area. The greatest of all was the mound of fresh earth near the ravine edge. Someone had erected a cross out of plywood. Others had laid wilting September blooms upon the dirt surrounding the grave.

Allen felt bile in his throat again, but he forced it down by clearing his throat.

Lenalee removed her baseball cap. Her short hair had gotten messy beneath the hat; some parts stuck up while others were pressed down in ugly patches. Allen looked away and uncovered his head as well. Lenalee looked at him, then at Lavi. She punched him in the side with her fist, nearly sending him toppling over.

"The fuck was that for?" he asked, sounding winded. He bent over at the middle and panted with his hands on his knees. The shotgun slung over his shoulder slid forward to rest against his hip.

"Show a little respect," Lenalee said crossly. Abashed, Lavi straightened up and yanked his bandanna off. Lenalee gave a nod of approval at him. Then she turned to Allen and shoved him forward. Allen stumbled, but caught himself and nervously approached the grave. Lavi and Lenalee hung back a distance to give him some privacy.

"Hey, Toma…" Allen said quietly to the dirt. He kneeled down beside it and looked at the handiwork of all the others. It was better than thinking about Toma, in pieces beneath the earth. It was also better than knowing it should have been him out here in the dawning hours, digging a hole for the person he had allowed to die right in front of him. He didn't even bring flowers. "I'm sorry…I…" Hot tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. "I didn't save you…" He sniffed and coughed to clear his throat, trying to distract himself from crying. "And I don't have anything…for you. It's not fair. It's really not." He stopped and looked at the wildflowers upon the grave. He thought about every patrol he had spent with Toma. He remembered the way Toma spoke about his fiancé, who had died in the initial bloodbath at a city mall not far from their town. He recalled the manner in which Toma told stories, the way his eyes lit up and his hands moved. _I'm Italian. We talk with our hands. My mom used to say "Honey, you're bilingual. You can speak English and Italian sign language!" _was how he explained it. Allen felt himself smiling when he remembered the first time Toma had described the large family dinners at his mother's place and the way his mouth had watered when imagining her pasta dishes. He felt himself laughing softly as he remembered the jokes Toma tried to tell, but to which he could never recall the punch line.

"It's not fair at all...But I'll never forget you…or what you did for me, for all of us… I don't have anything to leave, but I have myself to take away and that's because of you." Allen reached out and touched the cross.

"Thanks."

**pqpq**

When Allen felt strong enough to stand again, he found Lavi and Lenalee leaning against the truck. They were looking at a map and arguing quietly.

"Look, I'm just saying—"

"You're switching out on me, is what you're saying—"

"No, I'm just…not the right person for—"

"Allen, for Christ's sake, talk some sense into him," Lenalee said, when she caught sight of Allen out of the corner of her eye. Immediately, Lavi stopped talking, straightened up, and looked over Allen's left shoulder instead of at him. His face had closed off. Allen suddenly knew what they were arguing about.

"What's going on?" he asked anyway.

"Lavi's thinking about driving with someone else," Lenalee said, crossing her arms. "I'm going to be driving and I need a good shot. I don't need someone's kids in the back of this truck crying their eyes out if we run into something out there. So tell him that he should stop being an asshole and ride with us."

"Lavi, stop being an asshole and ride with us," Allen said, verbatim. Lavi looked angry for a half-second, as if not believing that Allen dared to use such a conversational tone with him after everything he had done. But then the look disappeared and he turned back to Lenalee.

"Sorry, I'm gone," he replied, tapping the brim of her hat. "See you at Lake Oconee."

With that said, he began walking back along the path that would take him to the quarry. Lenalee made to go after him, but stopped and turned back to Allen. She looked dangerous.

"What did you do?" Lenalee asked, rounding on him. Allen backed up, but found himself trapped against the driver's side door.

"What? Nothing…" Allen said.

"That's bullshit," Lenalee replied, and she thrust her pointer finger directly at his face. "You've been treating him like shit for weeks. What did you do?"

"Nothing! I swear!" Allen insisted, throwing up his hands in defense.

"I've known Lavi all my life and he doesn't get like that over _nothing_," Lenalee said, taking a step back. She held up her baseball bat. "So you're going to tell me what you did, or so help me, I will _beat_ you into next week."

"I-I'm sorry!" Allen said, putting his arms over his head to defend himself before she could swing at him. "I…thought it was for the best, because…because I…I-I like him…but I don't want him to get hurt…"

The baseball bat swung through the air with a whistle before imbedding itself hard into the side of the truck bed. Allen flinched away, peeking up at Lenalee through his fingers. She looked murderous.

"You're telling me…that you _like_ Lavi, so you treated him like _shit_?" Lenalee asked, and then she laughed, but without any sort of mirth to it. "What are you? In the fifth grade? If you like him, go fucking tell him before your goddamn romance kills us all." She held out her bat, much like she had that first day they met. "Or I kill you first." Her eyes were dark. "No one treats my friends like shit, got it?"

"G-Got it…but…" Allen began, and then stopped when Lenalee looked at him. Some of the hardness there softened a bit.

"You're worried he won't feel the same way? Have you seen how down in the dumps he's been these past few weeks?" Lenalee asked, the bat held loosely between her fingers as she approached with much less hostility and more amiability than before. "And I mean, what sort of person goes out in the middle of the night when he's not on duty? Just to make sure you were okay?"

"You mean…" Allen said. Lenalee slapped him on the side of the head.

"Of course. He was so worried about you that night! Jeez, men are so thick," she huffed. The way she did it made Allen think there was a bit more to her words than just Allen and Lavi's case. "Anyway, go. Hurry and fix this before we have to leave." She looked a little pleading. "I don't want to get stuck with, heaven forbid, my brother. He'll chew my ear off." Allen smiled a bit and hurried off in the direction Lavi had left.

**pqpq**

Allen caught up with Lavi at the main driveway that led into the quarry. Down below, he could see all the people and vehicles mobilizing to leave. Lavi was just about to head their way when Allen reached out and grasped at the redhead's elbow. His fingertips had barely touched the other man when suddenly said elbow came flying backwards to hit him directly in the cheek. Allen literally saw stars, but somehow managed to remain standing.

"Oh, fuck," Lavi said, and suddenly his hands were on Allen again. They felt like they had back in the forest the previous night: comforting, seeking to ease the pain that lingered beneath the surface. They moved to his face, fingers sweeping over the injured area gently. "Fuck, Allen, are you alright? You can't fucking sneak up on people like that!" Half-apology, half-admonishment, but Allen didn't mind.

"Sorry," Allen said, rotating his jaw a bit to make sure he hadn't broken anything important. It seemed fine, but he would bruise. All of his teeth were still there at least. "Sorry, I kind of deserved that."

"A punch in the face?" Lavi replied.

"An elbow in the face," Allen corrected him. His vision came back slowly; dark around the edges before resuming focus. Lavi was right there before him with no trace of coldness, only concern and a bit of amusement.

"Always call out. You're lucky I didn't shoot you," he said, taking his hands away. Immediately, he distanced himself, both in his expression as well as physically. He took a step back. "Anyway, now that I've fucked up your face, what are you doing running around out here without a weapon?" Allen wasn't about to tell Lavi that he hadn't been granted one, due to the incident on the ridge the night before, because it just wasn't the right time. Instead, he blurted out:

"Because I really do want you to ride with me and Lenalee."

Lavi crossed his arms over his chest. His body language was defensive.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because…" Allen began, and stopped. It had been a very emotional few hours, so it was hard to latch onto his thoughts immediately. But when he found them, he put them in order the best he could. "Look, I know I've been shitty to you these past few weeks—"

"Horribly shitty, actually."

"Yeah, horribly shitty, and it's not because I don't value you as a friend—"

"So instead valuing me as someone who is not a friend whom you like to treat like shit?" Lavi offered.

"No," Allen said, pushing his fingers through his hair. He met Lavi's eyes, hoping he would understand that this was not a ploy or a trick or a lie. It was the truth: "It's because I…I like you, okay? I really like you. No, scratch that. I'm fucking hopelessly_ in love with you_. But it's not the right time to be in love with someone, is it? So I was trying to not be in love anymore, but it's kind of hard...really hard, get it? Especially when I have to see you everyday and deal with the fact that I'm trying to pretend I feel nothing at all. I didn't know what to do." He was panting by the end of it, red in the face and terrified. He had just admitted out loud that he felt more than just a passing infatuation for Lavi. He loved him. Did he really love him? Allen never knew he was capable of feeling such an emotion. Perhaps the end of the world made people reevaluate their lives and their feelings. Toma's death proved to him that these times were dangerous; they could be there one moment and gone the next. Why not be happy for those few moments of peace? Why not be in love to the fullest so as to die without any regret?

"I'm sorry…" Allen said, after a few moments had passed and neither of them had said a word. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees, feeling his ears and neck burning with humiliation. After pouring out one's heart and soul and hearing nothing in return… it was almost unbearable.

"Wait, so let me get this straight," Lavi said. "You're apologizing…for admitting that you like me?"

"Yeah…I didn't want this to be as awkward…" Allen replied, keeping his eyes on the ground. "We can…still be friends, right?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Lavi said, and Allen looked up because the redhead made a quick motion with his hands. "So you tell me you like me and then you apologize for it and now you're friendzoning me? Well, don't I feel like a goddamn catch."

"No, no, it's not like that, I swear—" Allen began, but stopped when Lavi came closer to him and pulled him to a full stand by the front of his jacket.

"Hey, how about you shut up and let me kiss you?"

He was smiling in that way that Allen had seen only in the few times they had been alone together, laughing about something quietly in the dark while Allen breathed in his scent and enjoyed his eyelashes and how—_how_—had he never realized that that smile had been for him and only him the entire time? That knowledge made Allen smile too.

"Deal," Allen said. He let Lavi pull him in, even stood on his tiptoes a bit to make up for their height difference. And they were just a breath away—Allen could smell the dirt and sweat and gunpowder over the shampoo and the sweetness of honey and cornbread—when Lavi's walkie went off.

"Echo 8, this is Bravo 6, do you copy? "

It was Lenalee. She sounded panicked. Immediately, Lavi went for the walkie at his belt and brought it up between them. Allen could see that his knuckles had gone white.

"This is Echo 8, what's your status Bravo 6?" Lavi replied.

"We've got company. A lot of it," she said. "Fuck, we've got to get out _now_!"

"Copy," Lavi said, and pushed the button again. "Charlie 1, Charlie 1, do you copy? This is Echo 8. We've got walkers on the ridge! Repeat, walkers on the ridge! Evacuate ASAP!"

"This is Charlie 1 and Bravo 9. Commencing evacuation. Rendezvous point at the crossroads 11 and 142." As the words came over the two-way, Allen could see the groups of people down below hurrying into vans and cars. Some of them were already driving up the pathway towards the top of the ridge.

"Copy," Lavi said turning around when he heard the sound of Lenalee's truck barreling down the road towards them. "Echo 8 out." She skidded to a stop about ten feet shy of them. The windows were down.

"C'mon, lovebirds! I don't have all day!" Lenalee shouted at them as they ran towards the car.

"Passenger side, go, go, go," Lavi instructed Allen, who ran to the door in question. When he slammed it shut behind him, he saw Lavi jumping up onto the tire and pushing himself up over the bed of the truck. "We're golden," he shouted through the back window at Lenalee.

"We're out of here," Lenalee said, and hit the gas. They tore off down the driveway towards the outside world. "Where are we headed?" she asked Allen.

"They said to meet at the crossroads between 11 and 142," Allen replied.

"Good. Get the map and navigate for me," Lenalee said.

"Shit, Lena, we've got uglies behind us," Lavi called from the back. Allen stopped digging through the glove box long enough to look in the side mirror. He saw a group of zombies following behind the truck, staggering along with their mouths and eyes gaping and wide.

"Don't worry! They're slow. They'll never be able to keep up!" Lenalee said, and sure enough, Allen could see them falling further and further behind. He went back to look for the map.

"Suckers," Lavi said with a _whoop_ from the back. Lenalee laughed too and fist pumped the air. Allen smiled as he pulled out the map and began looking for the correct intersection. They were flying down the gravel road towards the suburb. But the moment they hit paved ground, Lenalee stopped, nearly throwing Allen through the windshield. He heard Lavi fall backwards in the bed of the truck and strike his head on the back window.

"Ow! What the _fucking_ fuck was that?!" Lavi growled. Allen turned around in his seat and saw that Lavi had hit the window with enough force to put a circular dent in it. The spider web crack was small, but tinted red with blood. Lavi must have hit it hard.

"Are you okay?" Allen asked, leaning back over the seat. He wished that he could have reached out and touched him, but they were too far away.

"I'm fine, but goddamn that _hurt_. Lenalee, what the hell did I say about—"

"Shut up for a fucking second!" Lenalee shouted back at him. Lavi quieted, rubbing the back of his head. "Look," she said, much quieter, as she pointed at something in the distance. Allen squinted to see what she indicated. Up ahead in the suburban area of cookie-cutter houses and swing sets, Allen could see groups of people.

No, not people. Not anymore.

"Shiiiit," Lavi said, pulling out a pair of binoculars from the back of his belt. He stood up and looked over the cab; Allen could only see his knees. "There's like a whole goddamn army of them out there."

"What are they doing?" Lenalee asked.

"I dunno. They don't look hostile at all," Lavi replied. "It's kind of like they're all just…hanging out. I wonder what they're congregating for…"

"Do you think they sleep in the houses in the day?" Allen asked.

"Maybe," Lenalee replied. "But I don't want to stick around to play twenty questions with them all. We'd better take the side route. Lavi, radio it in."

"You got it, boss," he said, and got down to a sitting level in the bed. Lenalee reversed for about a quarter of a mile before taking it down a side road that Allen would not have seen had he not been looking. Allen heard Lavi on the walkie. It sounded as if he could not reach anyone.

"Lavi?" Lenalee asked, after a few moments when Lavi had not confirmed speaking with the others.

"I can't get a hold of them," Lavi replied. "I'm going to try the other frequencies. We might be too far from them on the main channel." He kept on trying. With every moment that passed, Lenalee's expression became a bit stormier. She had her hands clenched onto the wheel tightly as they navigated down the dirt road.

"Oh shit," Lenalee said, and stopped.

Up ahead, the road went directly through a dying corn field. It felt ominous.

"We've got to go through it," Lavi said. He was peering at them through the back window. "It's our only shot."

"How deep is it?" Lenalee asked, and Lavi got back up to look over the cab with the binoculars.

"Can't tell. It goes on for about a mile at least," Lavi replied.

"Can you see the 11 at all?"

"Not a damn thing."

"Fuck," Lenalee said under her breath. The truck idled there as she thought.

"Lenalee, there's no other way. Just punch through it," Lavi said as he climbed back down to look at them through the broken back window.

"Fine, okay. We will. Roll up all the windows. Lavi, get your ass inside," Lenalee said.

"I love all the _pleases_ and _thank you_s that you use all the time, Lenalee. It's adorable," Lavi said, winking at Allen as he pushed the window open as far as it would go.

"Fuck your face, Lavi," Lenalee said as Lavi made to come inside. Allen watched, however, as her smiling face transformed into shock at the sight of something just beyond Allen's seat. "Get down!" She threw the truck into reverse and flew backwards for about twenty feet before stopping. A haggard looking zombie stumbled out of the corn towards them. It had been a mere foot from being able to grab Allen through the open window. "Shit. We have to go back."

"Not a good idea…" Lavi said. He had never made it through the back window and sat in the bed, his head turned towards something to their rear. Lenalee leaned out the driver side door and looked. The zombies from the neighborhood were coming at them in a giant flock.

"Shit, shit, shit," Lenalee said, rolling up her window. Allen hurried to do the same. "We're running for it, Lavi. Hang on!" She hit the gas and aimed straight at the cornfield. The zombie from before held out its arms towards them, but Lenalee took both of them clean off with her speed alone. They tore down the road. In the distance, Allen could see thunderstorm clouds gathering.

"Fucking _Children of the Corn_ back here!" Lavi shouted up to them. Allen looked in the mirror and saw the undead coming out of the corn in droves towards them. Some emerged from up ahead. Lenalee swore as they clipped one with the front headlight. Its blood splattered up and over the windshield in a blackish-red streak. It reeked to high heaven.

"Oh, god," Lenalee gasped, gagging from the smell as she tried to wipe the window clean so that she could see. It took several tries, but she finally managed to clear the majority of it away with the windshield wipers.

Just in time to see a horde waiting for them approximately fifty feet ahead.

Lenalee slammed on the breaks so hard that Allen felt the seatbelt knock the wind out of him. Lavi's body made a horrible sound from the bed of the truck as he was thrown backwards against the cab. Allen heard him groan in pain.

"We're going around," Lenalee announced, and made to go forward. She started, pushing forward with a jerk that sent Lavi flying forward. A very startled shout of pain issued from the bed, but Allen could not see what had happened as Lenalee went off road. She plowed through about fifteen rows of hard stalk corn and then reappeared on the road. Behind them, the horde had just turned around and began following them. "Fuck yes! Ambush averted!"

Allen let out a sigh of relief, and another when they cleared the field a few moments later. They swung out onto the 11. The sign pointed them left toward the 149.

"Lavi, you alive?" Lenalee called back to him.

"Barely…" Lavi groaned. Allen could not see him in the back, even when he turned around. "Goddamn, you…suck at driving…" Lenalee opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when she heard the hiss of pain that issued from Lavi for the second time.

"Are you okay?" Lenalee asked, and began to pull over on the side of the road.

"Don't stop…I'm okay…" Lavi said, groaned again, and Allen could see him sitting up in the bed. The back of his head sported red hair caked with blood. "Oh…shit…I don't think…a Band-Aid's going to help this…"

"We need to stop," Allen said, and Lenalee nodded. She threw the car in park right in the middle of the interstate. They both jumped out and went to the back. Lenalee pulled the truck bed lid down and hoisted herself up inside. Allen did the same. It was a mess of things that had not been tied down entirely, which had moved when they began driving. Lavi lay at a strange angle amongst it all, his back against the cab.

The entire right side of his face was covered in blood.

"Lavi?" Allen immediately went to him, wedging himself between Lavi and the stack of crates nearest him. They were metal ammo containers; Allen could see the corner of one box stained crimson.

"Fuck, we need to stop the bleeding," Lenalee said. She ripped off the sleeve of Allen's hoodie with a vicious yank and folded it up into a neat square. "Hold that on there," she instructed Allen, taking his hand with hers, which she guided towards Lavi's face. Her fingers put pressure on Allen's, which pressed into the wound. Lavi tried to jerk away, but Lenalee held him still.

"Oh, god...that fucking hurts..." Lavi said, in the smallest voice Allen had ever heard.

"Don't ease up on that pressure. You need to help it clot," Lenalee said as her fingers began searching through his hair. After a second she snapped her fingers in front of Lavi's half-closed left eye. The tips were smeared red with blood. "Lavi. Hey, Lavi. No sleeping on the job."

"What? A nap's not okay?" he asked.

"Good, you are still an idiot at least," Lenalee said, holding up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Well…it's probably three, but I see six..." Lavi replied, licking at his dry lips. "Unless you grew another one…?" She shook her head and removed a flashlight from her belt. "This is going to hurt but I need you to look into the light." She shone it into his one eye as Allen kept pressure on the other. "Non-responsive to light. He's got a concussion."

"I take offense to that," Lavi said, sounding strangely lucid despite his injuries.

"How bad of one?" Allen asked, looking down at Lavi worriedly.

"I won't know until the Matron looks him over," Lenalee answered. "I only have basic first aid knowledge. We need to get him into the truck and get something on that wound. It's going to hurt like a bitch." It took some work but they finally managed to get Lavi out of the bed of the truck and into the cab. He all but collapsed into the back seat, holding the soaked fabric against his own face. Allen climbed in beside him as Lenalee grabbed something from underneath the passenger seat. She shoved it into his hands. It said _FIRST AID _in bright red letters across the lid. "Clean it, then bandage it. After you do, if it keeps bleeding, don't remove the first one; just keep adding gauze on top of it."

Outside, thunder rumbled.

"I'm going to cover all the shit in the back with the tarp. You take care of him," Lenalee said, slamming the door shut. She had Lavi's shotgun strapped across her back.

"Okay, Lavi," Allen said, putting his hands on Lavi's shoulders. "C'mon and lay down." Lavi moved slowly, as if each breath caused him pain, but did as Allen asked. He lay down on his back with his head pillowed in Allen's lap. He groaned at the change of position. "That's it. You're okay…" Allen said, trying to soothe Lavi the best he could. The redhead's face was a mess, streaked with blood and dirt. Allen could feel his head wound soaking into his jeans. He wanted to stroke Lavi's hair, but knew it would only cause him pain, so he did not.

"Fucking hurts…" Lavi murmured thickly. Allen felt his heart throb in sympathy.

"I know," Allen said, touching Lavi's uninjured cheek. "But I've got to look at it, okay?" Lavi gave a stiff nod, lying still as Allen peeled back the bloody fabric. He felt his stomach roll uncomfortably at the sight.

"Izzit…real bad…?" Lavi asked. His left eye was only partially open. It was dark with pain. The other eye…Allen could barely see through the mess.

"It's no mosquito bite," Allen tried to joke, but his voice came out strained at the end. It made Lavi tense up considerably in fear, so Allen tried to calm him. He dabbed hydrogen peroxide onto a gauze pad and began wiping away around the wound. It was not painful, as there were no open cuts there, and so Lavi began to relax. "See, it was just a lot of blood, that's all. Head and face wounds are the worst, right?"

"Yeah…" Lavi agreed.

"Okay. I'm going to clean this up, so tell me if you need me to stop," Allen said, taking in a small breath to steady himself. He swallowed as he used a fresh gauze to clean the wound.

And it was terrible.

It was as if Lavi's entire eyelid had been torn in two. The waterline had been cut up too. Allen could not see if the actual eye was alright. He was no doctor, but it looked as if Lavi's entire eye had turned red. He could not see the green he loved so much; only blood beneath the angry bits of flesh that took Allen a moment to realize, after he began bandaging Lavi, that the redhead in his lap was no longer conscious. And that he was crying.

The tears only emerged from his left eye.

"How is he?" Lenalee asked, when she got back into the truck. Her clothes were drenched from the rain outside. Allen just shook his head at her. His fingers clasped around Lavi's. They were cold. Lenalee met his gaze in the rearview mirror.

"I'll go as fast as I can."

**pqpq**

They made it to the rendezvous site an hour or so later, but no one was there.

Lenalee pulled off and turned the truck off to save gasoline. The rain beat against the cab roof. Lenalee tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. Lavi woke once, in so much pain that Lenalee had to help Allen hold him down to keep him from hurting himself. He writhed under their grip for only a few moments before passing out again. After that, he did not wake up or even move. Allen would not let go of his hand. A half hour passed. Then an hour. Allen added more gauze to Lavi's wound and wrapped it up with a bandage. His breath was so soft it was almost non-existent.

"Still asleep?" Lenalee asked, after a long stretch of silence.

"Yeah," Allen said.

"He really shouldn't be sleeping with a concussion, but there's not much we can do about it now," Lenalee replied. "Besides, he's in so much pain...it's a small mercy."

He looked out the window for a long time.

"What happens?" Allen asked.

"If what?"

"If you fall asleep with a concussion."

"It depends on how bad it is."

"Lenalee."

She sighed.

"Sometimes it causes swelling or hemorrhaging of the brain," she said, but then looked at him fiercely. "But that doesn't mean it's going to happen. It's just a possibility." Despite this, Allen felt like he couldn't breathe. He clutched at Lavi's hand as if that could save him from an unknowable fate. "Hey. Look at me," she said, and Allen looked at her. "He'll be okay, Allen," Lenalee told him. She glanced down at Lavi. He looked so pale under all the dirt and blood that Allen could not believe her. It was only a few hours ago that they were standing up on the hill and Allen had said he loved him and they were so close to having that first kiss… Allen barely managed to choke back a sob.

"Believe me. He'll be okay."

There was nothing but the rain for a few long moments.

"He's cold," Allen said finally. He rubbed at the corners of his eyes to chase away the dampness there. "He's so fucking cold, Lenalee, and he's not moving…" She leaned over the seat and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket.

"Calm down," Lenalee said and Allen nodded. He knew that he had to be, if not for his own sake, then for Lavi's. "Now, there's a blanket under the seat. Put it over him." Allen did as he was told and draped the heavy material over Lavi's body. "Keep him warm."

The rain let up and Lenalee opened up the windows to let some air into the steamy cab. Lavi still did not move, even with Allen's hands threading through his hair. He tried not to think about the worse-case scenario and prayed that help was on its way. What if they waited into the night for the others and they never came? What if they were overwhelmed by zombies and they were stranded? Lavi would die from infection or blood loss or something. The fear of losing Lavi after finally getting him back—getting more of him than he ever thought possible—was enough to make Allen pray harder than he ever had in his life. _Please, God. Please don't let him die. Because it's just not fair. It's an ugly world without Lavi in it. Please. Please._ About fifteen minutes later, Allen heard the sound of a car honk in the far distance. He felt the pressure in his chest recede some.

His prayers were answered.

"About time the cavalry arrived," Lenalee said, and got out of the truck. Allen heard the sound of other car doors opening and closing. Then voices:

"It's about time you got here. What happened?" Lenalee asked.

"We got stuck. Huge horde down that main street. We ended up having to double back around and take the long way," Komui replied.

"Where are the other cars?" Lenalee asked.

"The Millers and some of the others decided to head South. They wanted to look for their friends down towards Eatonville," Komui replied.

"It looks like half the group is-"

"Gone? Yeah. We're down to just a few of us now."

"And where are Kanda and Marie? Their van is..."

"Then we had to stop for them. Their van blew a tire," Reever explained. "We lost you guys on the walkie."

"Yeah, we must have been too far away," Lenalee said. Another car door opened and Allen then heard Lenalee calling quickly for the nurse.

"What happened?" Komui asked, suddenly anxious at the call for medical assistance. Their footsteps were hurried and approaching the truck.

"We got ambushed. Lavi's hurt—"

"Did he get bitten?"

"No, nothing like that—"

The side door opened and Allen nearly cried in relief at the sight of the Matron standing there with her first aid pack at the ready. She looked Lavi over immediately, half-in, half-out of the truck cab. She took his temperature and pulse with rapid efficiency. Then she peeked under the bandages.

"The bleeding has stopped," she said and looked at Allen. "You did a good job taking care of him." She took her point light and did the same thing as Lenalee had to Lavi's left eye. She started frowning. "He's concussed." She touched the skin beneath his fringe, then on the side of his neck. She had a line between her brows as she took out her blood pressure cuff and hooked up to Lavi's arm. "Low blood pressure…"

"What does that mean?" Allen asked.

"It means he's in shock," the matron said, as she put the cuff away. "The best we can do for now is keep him warm. If it sounds like he can't breathe, then we have to worry." She propped up Lavi's feet on the door handle, which she explained would help with the shock and promote better blood flow.

"What do you think?"

Komui appeared at the matron's elbow. He looked anxious, especially as the nurse began prepping an IV bag full of antibiotics.

"He'll be fine. We need to get him into bed as soon as we arrive. He's going to need a lot of rest, but he should come through alright," the matron replied.

"And his eye?" Allen asked. She looked grim.

"I'm not sure if I can save it, but I'll do my very best," she answered.

"Good," Komui said. "You ride with them. We'll all stay close. The walkies will be in range if we need anything." He stared northward at the tail end of the storm.

"Now let's go. We're losing daylight."

**pqpq**


End file.
